Story & Setting
Information about the story, lore & setting of Project Phantom.
Table of Contents
Introduction
In 1952, an unexplained event later named as the Shift occured somewhere in Caucasia, with a wave of unknown electromagnetic and other unknown phenomena sweeping across the continent. Investigations of the purpoted origin point did not yield any answers, however it was quickly noticed in the aftermath of the event that it had left its mark on the planet. Over the years new elements would be discovered in areas covered by the wave, altered from their base forms by a presence of particles of exotic matter, called Element X by some, later named Exolis by Excelsus Group scientists. These altered Earth elements would become the cornerstone of accelerated technological growth that would characterize the latter of half of the 20th century.
Rapid technological advancements brought changes to the political atmosphere of the world, as well. In 1967, after years of planning and deliberation, Western Coalition was formed as a result of a treaty between many western European nations as well as US, Canada and Australia, all in response to the potential threat of Soviet Union escalating as a result of the new and unpredictable technologies. Some of these fears may have realized, as a secret Soviet weapon transport prematurely detonated in outskirts of Instanbul, carrying an unstable experimental device created using Exolis crystals and effectively wiping out the city in an event that would later be called the Annihilation. This served as a spark for full-scale conflict between Western Coalition and Soviet Union, known as the Resource War.
Soviet Union was significantly weakened by the lasting conflict and shattered to pieces. Unbeknownst to most, there was a plot brewing in certain segment of the Soviet military. General Sevastyan Biryukov, who was also in charge of overseeing military research bureau BK-152, had been commanding development of mind-control technology in secret, and in 1984 launched a coup assisted by this technology called Dominus to overtake the Soviet Union and create a new government - the Eurasian Dominion
Formation of Dominion and their subsequent expansion & annexion campaign, and especially the exposure of technology that could be used to brainwash or control people en masse, kickstarted a conflict that became known as The Second Resource War. Western Coalition, now hell-bent on putting stop to Dominion machinations and finding a way to counteract the Dominus technology created a new division specifically for researching new technologies for military purposes - Warfare Advancement Research Division, W.A.R.D. Over a decade of various stages of warfare and conflict between two superpowers has put a dent in the resources of each of them, and there is a growing public anti-war sentiment on both sides of the fence.
It is currently year 2001, the turn of the millennium has passed with no end in sight for the ongoing state of conflict. W.A.R.D has purpotedly reached a breakthrough in their research on anti-Dominus technologies, rumouredly with the aid of Excelsus Group and is eager to test the fruits of their labour in action, something that may have a profound effect on the tide of the war. There are whispers of movement in shadowy underworld, a mysterious cabal known to few as the Framework may be enacting a plan of their own in the times to come and there exists another group that commands technology beyond human imagination, Phantom Imperative. Whether or not there is any connection between the two and what role they will play in shaping the future of the world is yet to be determined...
Setting
World Map
World map legend:
- Coalition-aligned areas:
- European Union: Western European nations forming the core of the Western Coalition alongside UK.
- United Kingdom & Ireland: The only major Western European nations to stay outside the Union, partly due to tradition, and more importantly economical concerns. They both do still maintain strong ties with the Union nations, just without being under its governance.
- United States of America: One of the backbones of Coalition military strength, although its economic strength has slightly diminished due to the Shift-introduced rare earth elements not appearing on their continent.
- Canada:Another American Coalition member nation, Canada faces similar troubles as USA does in this day.
- Commonwealth of Australia & New Zealand: Distant from their allies, they are in precarious position due to being very vulnerable to Dominion airstrikes and naval attacks. Coastlines are heavily fortified as a result.
- Balkan Conglomerate: A tumultuous region consisting of various Balkan states that attempted to unify in aftermath of Dominion's formation, later occupied by Coalition forces who effectively linked Turkey into it as well, despite historical issues with doing so. Currently attempted to be kept in control and as a buffer against the Dominion by Western Coalition employing Crimson Crown's private military forces.
- Dominion-aligned areas:
- Eurasian Dominion: World's largest sovereign nation, formed when Soviet Union officially collapsed as a result of a military coup and has since absorbed former satellites and some Middle Eastern nations into itself.
- Great People's Republic of China: One of Dominion's major allies and effectively a vassal state. Has in itself absorbed several nearby nations like Japan under its own rule with help of Dominion technology.
- Republic of India:Much like China, effectively a Dominion vassal state except its government is deeply corrupt and is slowly fracturing. There are those that have attempted to establish regions that claim sovereignity from the local government(s).
- Republic of Finland: A sovereign nation placed in an undesirable position of being sandwiched between European Union countries and the Eurasian Dominion. Attempts to feign neutrality most of the time, but is in practice largely under the Dominion thumb.
- Unaligned or contested areas:
- Central & South America: Stagnating area of the world mostly abused for resources by the world's superpowers to the extent that they can or need to.
- North African nations: Active conflict region. Coalition controls the areas towards the Atlantic coast and Dominion towards the Middle East, with borders shifting between them and local warlords on weekly basis.
- South African Union: Mostly independent alliance of nations in southern parts of the continent, helped by the fact that one of the largest corporations in the world, Excelsus Group has major presence in South Africa.
- Southeast Asia & Oceania: Mostly uncontested regions with occassional shifting presence from Dominion-affiliated nations as well as Pacific Coalition forces.
Factions
Western Coalition
Read more about Western Coalition on their introduction page.
Eurasian Dominion
Read more about Eurasian Dominion on their introduction page.
Phantom Imperative
Read more about Phantom Imperative on their introduction page.
Mercenary Factions
Fist of Titans
Read more about Fist of Titans in their section on the Mercenary Factions page.
Crimson Crown
Read more about Crimson Crown in their section on the Mercenary Factions page.
Excelsus Group
Read more about Excelsus Group in their section on the Mercenary Factions page.
Other Groups of Interest
W.A.R.D
- Year Formed: 1990
- Headquarters: New York, United States of America
- Leadership: Director Grant Archer
- Controlled Territories: None
- Purpose: Technology development for Coalition military
Warfare Advancement Research Division, an organisation established shortly after the onset of the second Resource War to further development of technologies to assure Coalition supremacy. Proliferation of laser weapons as well as the new Flashbolt weapon technology in Coalition arsenal during the war can be traced back to W.A.R.D's achievements. As the conflict has dragged on and both superpowers have started to run out of steam and resources, W.A.R.D's funding has received several cuts, necessitating several projects being canned and other avenues of development to be pursued. There is a rumour that the current director, Grant Archer has been in talks with the Excelsus Group, an unusual concept given the latter's stance on involving in military conflicts for a collaboration on a project but nothing of substance regarding this matter has been confirmed as of yet. W.A.R.D also operates Taskforce Nova, a squad of elite soldiers equipped with cutting-edge technology to handle special operations.
Scythe
- Year Formed: 1984
- Headquarters: The Atom Pit, Sobol's command centre in former Kazakhstan territory
- Leadership: General Rodion Sobol
- Controlled Territories: The Atom Pit
- Purpose: Testing of nuclear-based weapons and employing scorched earth tactics against Dominion enemies where deemed necessary
A taskforce operating under General Sobol, one of Biryukov's right-hand men that employs a large amount of nuclear-based weaponry and serves as a testbed for their development amongst Dominion military. Scythe is the inheritor of the legacy of several Soviet black projects related to nuclear technology, most notably Project Dazhbog that aimed to create new nuclear fusion-based weapon that inadvertently, due to coinciding with the Shift ended up transforming one of the persons present, Major Timur Oborin into what can only be described as living nuclear reactor, becoming a nigh-immortal, secret Soviet 'super-commando' nicknamed 'Tokamak' as a result. Any attempts to replicate the process afterwards have proved unsuccessful.
Eclipse
- Year Formed: Unknown
- Headquarters: Unknown
- Leadership: Commander Alexander Bishop
- Controlled Territories: Unknown
- Purpose: Protection of assets and installations of the Phantom Imperative
A fast-response taskforce dedicated to protecting assets, mainly infrastructure essential to Phantom's operations and future. They primarily employ technology fitted with warp engines which allows them to teleport from one location to another within reasonable limits. Fittingly, the bulk of their forces are made up from Nightmare Warptroopers, which use exo-suits fitted with said engines. Their commanding officer, Alexander Bishop also employs an unique battle suit made to fit with his cybernetic augmentations when he needs to personally enter the field. Given that vast majority, if not all of Phantom's assets, particularly infrastructure are unknown quantity to both Coalition and Dominion, it does raise a question if Eclipse was created as a countermeasure should that veil of secrecy fall, or if there are other things Phantom considers as threats to warrant its existence.
Rubicon Defence Systems
- Year Formed: 1988
- Headquarters: Paris, France
- Leadership: Commander Alexander Bishop
- Controlled Territories: None
- Purpose: For-profit military hardware manufacturing
One of the chief manufacturers for Coalition military equipment, Rubicon Defence Systems has been producing military hardware for the last 14 years, supplying Coalition military with weapon systems, armoured vehicles as well as infantry gear. They have a tight collaboration program with W.A.R.D and one of the fruits of sharing technologies is the Seraph shield system recently deployed by Coalition military that allows for efficient protection of their military establishments and equipment from enemy fire. There are rumours of some sort of internal incident within the company that occurred years ago involving the CEO, Armand Ingram's, own daughter who was employed in the company. No further information on the subject is available and Celeste Ingram's location has been unknown for the past 8 years.
The Framework
- Year Formed: Unknown
- Headquarters: Unknown
- Leadership: Prometheus (possibly)
- Controlled Territories: Unknown
- Purpose: Unknown, presumably to further the personal interests of its constituents
The invisible connection, the dark network, something that does not exist, yet there are those who know it has to. Within the council of nine, the first among equals distributes celestial fire to those who are too blind to see the strings in their avarice or lust for power. The truth may become clear in times to come, but by then it might already be too late if you wish to awaken in the same world where you came from.
People
Coalition
Patrick Steinmann
The current chairman of the Coalition Military Committee and an Army General. Effectively the highestmost military command authority in Western Coalition.
Grant Archer
Acting director of W.A.R.D, that under his leadership has scrounged to make advancements despite running low on resources and has reached out to third parties such as Excelsus Group.
Nora Rosenfeldt
German air force pilot recruited by W.A.R.D to lead Taskforce Nova.
Appears in-game as a trainable hero infantry under name Starfire.
Everett Devlin
American army captain recruited by W.A.R.D to Taskforce Nova.
Appears in-game as a trainable hero infantry under name Blastwave.
Magnus Olvirsson
Icelandic naval officer and scientist recruited by W.A.R.D to Taskforce Nova.
Appears in-game as a trainable hero infantry under name Coldspark.
Dominion
Sevastyan Biryukov
A former General in the Soviet army and the current president (for life) of the Eurasian Dominion, as well as the main driving force behind its founding, seizing a chance to grab control in times of chaos to establish order in the world.
Professor Pyotr Alkaev
A scientist who, amongst other things, served as the director of the Soviet military research bureau BK-152 that was overseen by Sevastyan Biryukov. The focus of his work was effect of certain types of electromagnetic waves on human brains, and it is believed that he was the chief architect of the Dominus weapon project. Disappeared from the public eye during the early years of the second Resource War. No information on the cause of disappearance or current status or location is available.
Timur Oborin
A Soviet military officer who became a living nuclear reactor through a freak nuclear accident influenced by unknown forces.
Appears in-game as a trainable hero infantry under name Tokamak.
Sekhar Khan
Indian ex-soldier and freedom fighter, also known as the King of Ashes, who has made a pact with Dominion leadership in exchange for resources.
Appears in-game as a trainable hero infantry under name Khan.
Phantom
Gabriel Graves
An American ex-Secret Service agent and combat expert forced to forsake his past who answers directly to Phantom's leadership.
Appears in-game as a trainable hero infantry under name Pariah.
Alexander Bishop
Commanding officer of Eclipse and an old soldier with extensive cybernetic augmentations who has served Phantom from the beginning.
Appears in-game as a trainable hero infantry under name Bishop.
Celeste Ingram
Weapons designer gone rogue suffering from a peculiar affliction that grants her superhuman ability to perceive and influence the electromagnetic spectrum.
Appears in-game as a trainable hero infantry under name Celeste.
Other
Ignatius Mercuri
Crimson Crown's founder and CEO.
Nathan Towers
Excelsus Group's current CEO.
Prometheus
Purpoted leader of a shadowy group called the Framework. Not much is known about them, not even if they really exist.